Tablet sales up 10% to about 940,000 in Q3 2014: IDC

Tablet sales in the country grew by 10 per cent to about 940,000 units in July-September 2014 helped by festive season demand and strong commercial sales, research firm IDC said.

PTI

November 29, 2014, 17:10 IST

Danish KhanNEW DELHI: Tablet sales in the country grew by 10 per cent to about 940,000 units in July-September 2014 helped by festive season demand and strong commercial sales, research firm IDC said today.

Tablet sales in India stood at about 860,000 units in the April-June quarter of this year, IDC said in a statement.

"Tablet market in India started on a lower note because of Bureau of India Standards (BIS) compliance requirements, which seemed to have settled with the vendors by now," the statement said.

The tablet market reported the strongest year-to-date growth in the third quarter of 2014, fuelled by festive buying and strengthening commercial demand, it added.

"The initial phase of impulsive buying seems to have faded, as the consumers are more aware of the use in case of tablets now. Therefore, the current size of the market looks more realistic and stable," IDC India Market Analyst Tanvi Mann said.

Samsung led the market with 22.2 per cent share, followed by Micromax (10.9 per cent), iBall (10.6 per cent), DataWind (8.2 per cent) and Apple (6.7 per cent).

In terms of operating system, Android had a 90 per cent market share in the third quarter of 2014 and is expected to continue to dominate in the foreseeable future as well.

Windows-based tablets, priced under USD 200 are expected to accelerate the adoption rate, albeit from a low base, IDC said.

"Due to continuous onslaught from the 'phablets' (devices with 5.5 inches-6.99 inch screen sizes), small screen tablets are taking a hit and there is more uptake on tablets which are screen sized between 8-9 inch," IDC India Research Manager, Client Devices Kiran Kumar said.

This has, however, led to an overall improvement of the average selling price for the category, Kumar added.

IDC expects there will be lesser intake of tablets in the October-December 2014 quarter owing to seasonality.

However, for calender year 2015, commercial segment is likely to grow in comparison to a stable consumer market.

Government projects and government-aided education projects should remain key to the growth in the commercial tablets, IDC said.

"We are likely to see increased activity by PC OEMs in the tablets space with a focus on the 7 and 8-inch form factors, Mann said.